A construction crew doesn’t weave an 18,000-pound MRI machine in and out of a 400-square-foot room, install 175,000 pounds of steel to support a new 192,000-pound roof platform, and not disrupt a bustling hospital setting without some considerable preplanning. And it was preplanning conducted through early technology that helped C.W. Driver work crews complete such demanding tasks at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the world-renowned facility in the heart of Los Angeles.
A series of improvements are in the works at the facility, not the least of which includes the transportation of an MRI machine through and into confined spaces for a complete replacement project, and the conversion of the hospital’s Steven Spielberg Building’s third floor into a new wet laboratory. These are not small chores, and their challenges are compounded by the fact that they took place within not only a working hospital, but one of the busiest and most high-profile care facilities on the West Coast.
Add to that the fact that some work had to take place during “working hours,” which is something of a contradiction—like any hospital, this one never sleeps. Conquering a workload that included dragging nearly 88 tons of steel through the facility was a task that had to be completed by a) not letting work crews’ presence affect everyday hospital life, while b) keeping hospital management and staff informed of every move that had to be made—often 20 steps before the team made it.
None of it could have been done without combining building information modeling (BIM) technology early on with Lean construction methods throughout. Every hurdle was mapped out well before work crews had to clear it. A project delivery system was utilized during the Lean process, which not only helped improve construction and design programming, but also insured all of the work would be completed in a timely fashion. It began with collaborative scheduling and programming, as well as a risk analysis down the line. All of the consultants needed to know well ahead of time—for the sake of the client, not to mention the hundreds of patients and staff in the facility—what issues needed to be addressed early in order to have all of the installation and work completed on schedule.
